pwnbox

A Kali-based docker container pre-built with tools, ZSH, and SSH.

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Project maintained by DeadPackets Hosted on GitHub Pages — Theme by mattgraham

PwnBox

NOTICE: I am no longer actively maintaining updates to this project. If you need a specific feature, feel free to open an issue and I’ll do my best. I personally no longer use this container.

Kali VMs are too slow? Don’t want to mess up your main OS with hacking tools? Tired of re-installing your tools in the official Kali container? Looking to get started with hacking with the ability to easily rollback! Then PwnBox is just for you! Get a fully working Kali container with SSH access within minutes!

PwnBox is a helper script alongside a container that is based off Kali’s official kali-rolling container, with extra tools installed and an SSH server setup. The setup is very modular, and can be easily adapted to add/remove tools.

The containers are built every week/release and are published to Docker Hub and Github Container Registry.

Features

• A zsh shell with syntax highlighting, auto-suggesstions and more.
• A fully modular setup allowing for any tool to be added with ease in future builds.
• All tools installed are organized into their respective categories in /opt/tools.
• Ever installed a tool through apt and forgot you did? Pwnbox keeps a list of all apt installed tools in /opt/tools/CATEGORY/apt_tools.txt.
• An ssh server installed so you can run the container in the background and still access it with ease.
• X11 forwarding so you can run GUI applications if needed.
• Weekly builds ensure the latest version of all your favorite tools are installed.
• A companion CLI tool (pwnbox-cli) to make deploying, destroying and updating PwnBox really easy.
• A persistent volume to exchange files with the host OS and persistent any data you need.
• The option to specify a custom startup script for your own customization!

Getting Started

1. Installing the PwnBox Command

You can easily install the pwnbox command to your system using the following command:

pip install pwnbox # Python >=3.6

2. Running PwnBox

With the command now installed, you can simply run pwnbox as shown:

pwnbox up

This will download the image if not available, bring up PwnBox container and SSH you in!

3. Enjoy

You now have access to PwnBox! Remember:

• Explore the installed tools in /opt/tools.
• If you need persistent data or external access, store it in /mnt/external and access it on your host from $HOME/.pwnbox/external.
• If you need a custom startup script, store it as $HOME/.pwnbox/external/pwnbox_entrypoint.sh.

NOTE: If you are more interested in downloading and running the container manually, please check the related wiki section

PwnBox Usage

See the usage at pwnbox-cli

Repo Structure

• Dockerfile - the file that builds the kali docker container.
• setup/ - this directory holds all files related to setting up the container.
  • setup.sh - this is the main setup script.
  • tools/ - this directory contains all subcategories of tools and contains the setup scripts for each subcategory.
• ssh/ - this directory holds all files related to installing and setting up SSH inside the container. It includes static ssh keys.

Container Structure

• /opt/tools - this directory contains all the tools installed.
• /mnt/external - this directory is also persistent with every run, but is meant to exchange files between the container and the host.
• /opt/ssh - this directory is used for ssh keys to be automatically imported into the container on launch.

Container Build Arguments

• NO_PIP_INSTALL=yes to prevent the installation of python dependencies, reducing build time and container size.
• NO_PYTHON_INSTALL=yesto prevent the running of setup.py to install python projects and their dependencies, reducing build time and container size.
• NO_WORDLIST=yes to prevent downloading any wordlists, like SecLists.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens to all the tools I install in the container?

Unless those tools are stored in the /mnt/external volume, they will be gone once the container is started up again or upgraded. Additionally, any libraries/dependencies not installed in /mnt/external will also be gone.

Why is tool X or Y not included?

Feel free to open Pull Requests with the tool(s) you want to be included! I will review and most likely approve your PR. If not, feel free to just fork and add whatever tools you would like.

Contributions

PRs are more than welcome! Fix bugs, add features, improve build times, improve container size or anything else. I will gladly merge them once I have reviewed them.